This invention relates to the field of medical devices, and more particularly to guiding means such as a guidewire for advancing a catheter within a body lumen in a procedure such as percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA).
In a typical PTCA procedure a guiding catheter having a preformed distal tip is percutaneously introduced into the cardiovascular system of a patient in a conventional Seldinger technique and advanced therein until the distal tip of the guiding catheter is seated in the ostium of a desired coronary artery. A guidewire is positioned within an inner lumen of a dilatation catheter and then both are advanced through the guiding catheter to the distal end thereof. The guidewire is first advanced out of the distal end of the guiding catheter into the patient""s coronary vasculature until the distal end of the guidewire crosses a lesion to be dilated, then the dilatation catheter having an inflatable balloon on the distal portion thereof is advanced into the patient""s coronary anatomy over the previously introduced guidewire until the balloon of the dilatation catheter is properly positioned across the lesion. Once in position across the lesion, the balloon is inflated to a predetermined size with radiopaque liquid at relatively high pressures (e.g., greater than 4 atmospheres) to compress the arteriosclerotic plaque of the lesion against the inside of the artery wall and to otherwise expand the inner lumen of the artery. The balloon is then deflated so that blood flow is resumed through the dilated artery and the dilatation catheter can be removed therefrom.
Conventional guidewires for angioplasty and other vascular procedures usually comprise an elongated core member with one or more tapered sections near the distal end thereof and a flexible body such as a helical coil disposed about the distal portion of the core member. A shapable member, which may be the distal extremity of the core member or a separate shaping ribbon which is secured to the distal extremity of the core member extends through the flexible body and is secured to a rounded plug at the distal end of the flexible body. Torquing means are provided on the proximal end of the core member to rotate, and thereby steer, the guidewire while it is being advanced through a patient""s vascular system.
Further details of dilatation catheters, guidewires, and devices associated therewith for angioplasty procedures can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,323,071 (Simpson-Robert); U.S. Pat. No. 4,439,185 (Lundquist): U.S. Pat. No. 4,516,972 (Samson); U.S. Pat. No. 4,538,622 (Samson, et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 4,554,929 (Samson, et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 4,616,652 (Simpson); and U.S. Pat. No. 4,638,805 (Powell) which are hereby incorporated herein in their entirety by reference thereto.
Steerable dilatation catheters with fixed, built-in guiding members, such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,582,181 (now Re 33,166) are frequently used because they have lower deflated profiles than conventional over-the-wire dilatation catheters and a lower profile allows the catheter to cross tighter lesions and to be advanced much deeper into a patient""s coronary anatomy.
A major requirement for guidewires and other guiding members, whether they be solid wire or tubular members, is that they have sufficient column strength to be pushed through a patient""s vascular system or other body lumen without kinking. However, they must also be flexible enough to avoid damaging the blood vessel or other body lumen through which they are advanced. Efforts have been made to improve both the strength and flexibility of guidewires to make them more suitable for their intended uses, but these two properties are for the most part diametrically opposed to one another in that an increase in one usually involves a decrease in the other.
The prior art makes reference to the use of alloys such as Nitinol (Nixe2x80x94Ti alloy) which have shape memory and/or superelastic characteristics in medical devices which are designed to be inserted into a patient""s body. The shape memory characteristics allow the devices to be deformed to facilitate their insertion into a body lumen or cavity and then be heated within the body so that the device returns to its original shape. Superelastic characteristics on the other hand generally allow the metal to be deformed and restrained in the deformed condition to facilitate the insertion of the medical device containing the metal into a patient""s body, with such deformation causing the phase transformation. Once within the body lumen the restraint on the superelastic member can be removed, thereby reducing the stress therein so that the superelastic member can return to its original undeformed shape by the transformation back to the original phase.
Alloys have shape memory/superelastic characteristics generally have at least two phases, a martensite phase, which has a relatively low tensile strength and which is stable at relatively low temperatures, and an austenite phase, which has a relatively high tensile strength and which is stable at temperatures higher than the martensite phase.
Shape memory characteristics are imparted to the alloy by heating the metal at a temperature above which the transformation from the martensite phase to the austenite phase is complete, i.e., a temperature above which the austenite phase is stable. The shape of the metal during this heat treatment is the shape xe2x80x9cremembered.xe2x80x9d The heat-treated metal is cooled to a temperature at which the martensite phase is stable, causing the austenite phase to transform to the martensite phase. The metal in the martensite phase is then plastically deformed, e.g., to facilitate the entry thereof into a patient""s body. Subsequent heating of the deformed martensite phase to a temperature above the martensite to austenite transformation temperature causes the deformed martensite phase to transform to the austenite phase and during this phase transformation the metal reverts back to its original shape.
The prior methods of using the shape memory characteristics of these alloys in medical devices intended to be placed within a patient""s body presented operational difficulties. For example, with shape memory alloys having a stable martensite temperature below body temperature, it was frequently difficult to maintain the temperature of the medical device containing such an alloy sufficiently below body temperature to prevent the transformation of the martensite phase to the austenite phase when the device was being inserted into a patient""s body. With intravascular devices formed of shape memory alloys having martensite-to-austenite transformation temperatures well above body temperature, the devices could be introduced into a patient""s body with little or no problem, but they had to be heated to the martensite-to-austenite transformation temperature which was frequently high enough to cause tissue damage and very high levels of pain.
When stress is applied to a specimen of a metal such as Nitinol exhibiting superelastic characteristics at a temperature at or above which the transformation of martensite phase to the austenite phase is complete, the specimen deforms elastically until it reaches a particular stress level where the alloy then undergoes a stress-induced phase transformation from the austenite phase to the martensite phase. As the phase transformation proceeds, the alloy undergoes significant increases in strain but with little or no corresponding increases in stress. The strain increases while the stress remains essentially constant until the transformation of the austenite phase to the martensite phase is complete. Thereafter, further increase in stress is necessary to cause further deformation. The martensitic metal first yields elastically upon the application of additional stress and then plastically with permanent residual deformation.
If the load on the specimen is removed before any permanent deformation has occurred, the martensitic specimen will elastically recover and transform back to the austenite phase. The reduction in stress first causes a decrease in strain. As stress reduction reaches the level at which the martensite phase transforms back into the austenite phase, the stress level in the specimen will remain essentially constant (but substantially less than the constant stress level at which the austenite transforms to the martensite) until the transformation back to the austenite phase is complete, i.e., there is significant recovery in strain with only negligible corresponding stress reduction. After the transformation back to austenite is complete, further stress reduction results in elastic strain reduction. This ability to incur significant strain at relatively constant stress upon the application of a load and to recover from the deformation upon the removal of the load is commonly referred to as superelasticity or pseudoelasticity.
The prior art makes reference to the use of metal alloys having superelastic characteristics in medical devices which are intended to be inserted or otherwise used within a patient""s body. See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,665,905 (Jervis) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,925,445 (Sakamoto, et al.).
The Sakamoto, et al. patent discloses the use of a nickel-titanium superelastic alloy in an intravascular guidewire which could be processed to develop relatively high yield strength levels. However, at the relatively high yield stress levels which cause the austenite-to-martensite phase transformation characteristic of the material, it did not have a very extensive stress-induced strain range in which the austenite transforms to martensite at relative constant stress. As a result, frequently as the guidewire was being advanced through a patient""s tortuous vascular system, it would be stressed beyond the superelastic region, i.e., develop a permanent set or even kink which can result in tissue damage. This permanent deformation would generally require the removal of the guidewire and the replacement thereof with another.
Products of the Jervis patent on the other hand had extensive strain ranges, i.e., 2 to 8% strain, but the relatively constant stress level at which the austenite transformed to martensite was very low, e.g., 50 ksi.
In copending application Ser. No. 07/629,381, filed Dec. 18, 1990, entitled Superelastic Guiding Member, guide wires or guiding members are described which have at least a solid or tubular portion thereof exhibiting superelastic characteristics including an extended strain region over a very high, relatively constant high stress level which effects the austenite transformation to martensite. While the properties of the guidewire formed of the superelastic material were very advantageous, it was found that the guidewires and guiding members formed of materials having superelastic characteristics did not have optimum push and torque characteristics.
The present invention is directed to improve guidewires or guiding members, wherein the distal portion is provided with superelastic characteristics resulting from the stress-induced transformation of austenite to martensite and wherein the proximal portion is provided with high strength elastic materials.
The guidewire or guiding member of the invention has a high strength proximal section with a high strength distal section with superelastic properties and a connector element between the proximal and distal sections which superelastic properties to provide a smooth transition between the proximal and the distal sections. In a presently preferred embodiment the guidewire or guiding member has a solid core distal section formed of superelastic materials such as NiTi type alloys and the connector is a hollow tubular shaped member which has an inner passageway adapted to receive the proximal end of the solid core distal section.
The superelastic distal core member and the hollow connector of the invention exhibit stress-induced phase transformation at body temperature (about 37xc2x0 C.) at a stress level well above about 50 ksi, preferably above 70 ksi and in many cases above about 90 ksi. The complete stress-induced transformation of the austenite phase to the martensite phase causes a strain in the specimen of at least about 4%, preferably over 5%. The region of phase transformation resulting from stress preferably begins when the specimen has been strained about 2 to 3% at the onset of the phase change from austenite to martensite and extends to about 7 to about 9% strain at the completion of the phase change. The stress and strain referred to herein is measured by tensile testing. The stress-strain relationship determined by applying a bending moment to a cantilevered specimen is slightly different from the relationship determined by tensile testing because the stresses which occur in the specimen during bending are not as uniform as they are in tensile testing. There is considerably less change in stress during the phase transformation than either before or after the stress-induced transformation. The stress level is relatively constant within the transformation period.
The portions of the guiding member having superelastic properties are preferably formed from an alloy consisting essentially of about 30 to about 52% titanium and the balance nickel and up to 10% of one or more additional alloying elements. Such other alloying elements may be selected from the group consisting of up to 3% each of iron, cobalt, platinum, palladium and chromium and up to about 10% copper and vanadium. As used herein all references to percent composition are atomic percent unless otherwise noted.
To form the elongated superelastic portion of the guiding member, elongated solid rod or tubular stock of the preferred alloy material is first cold worked, preferably by drawing, to effect a size reduction of about 30% to about 70% in the Transverse cross-section thereof. The cold-worked material may then be given a memory imparting heat treatment at a temperature of about 350xc2x0 to 600xc2x0 C. for about 0.5 to about 60 minutes, while maintaining a longitudinal stress on the elongated portion equal to about 5% to about 50%, preferably about 10% to about 30%, of the yield stress of the material (as measured at room temperature). This thermomechanical processing imparts a straight xe2x80x9cmemoryxe2x80x9d to the superelastic portion and provides a relatively uniform residual stress in the material. Another method involves mechanically straightening the wire after the cold work and then heat treating the wire at temperatures between about 300xc2x0 and about 450xc2x0 C., preferably about 330xc2x0 to about 400xc2x0 C. The latter treatment provides substantially higher tensile properties. The cold-worked and heat-treated alloy material has an austenite finish transformation temperature less than body temperature and generally about xe2x88x9210xc2x0 C. to about 30xc2x0 C. For more consistent final properties, it is preferred to fully anneal the solid rod or tubular stock prior to cold work so that the material will always have the same metallurgical structure at the start of the cold working and so that it will have adequate ductility for subsequent cold working. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that means of cold working the metal other than drawing, such as rolling or swaging, can be employed. The constant yield stress levels for solid products have been found to be slightly lower than the levels for solid products. For example, superelastic wire material of the invention will have a constant stress level usually above about 70 ksi, preferably above about 90 ksi, whereas, superelastic tubing Material will have a constant stress level of above 50 ksi, preferably above about 70 ksi. The ultimate tensile strength of both forms of the material is well above 200 ksi with an ultimate elongation at failure of about 15%.
The elongated superelastic members of the invention exhibit stress-induced austenite-to-martensite phase transformation over a broad region of strain at very high, relatively constant stress levels. As a result a guiding member having a distal portion formed of this material is very flexible, it can be advanced through very tortuous passageways such as a patient""s coronary vasculature with little risk that the superelastic portion of the guiding member will develop a permanent set and at the same time it will effectively transmit the torque applied thereto without causing the guiding member to whip. The high strength proximal portion of the guidewire or guiding member provides excellent pushability and torquability to the guidewire or guiding member.
These and other advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description thereof when taken in conjunction with the following exemplary drawings.